These profiles review the major features of the countries’ health coverage, financing and service delivery policies and provide links to articles with more information. More countries will be added in the coming months.
Below are annotated resources that give a general overview and summary profiles of international health care systems.
Key Data
Journal Articles
Videos & Webcasts
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For a list of organizations that cover international health systems, please click here.
Anderson, G. and P. Markovich. (April 2010). Multinational Comparisons of Health Systems Data, 2008. The Commonwealth Fund.
This publication by the Commonwealth Fund provides comparative data of global health care systems.
The Commonwealth Fund. (March 2008). Health Care System Profiles.
These country profiles provide overviews of health care systems of several countries, including Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.K. Each profile includes descriptions of how each country organizes, finances, and delivers health services and highlights quality, efficiency and cost-controlling policy initatives.
Davis K, C Schoen, SC Schoenbaum, MM Doty et al. The Commonwealth Fund. (May 2007). Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: An International Update on the Comparative Performance of American Health Care.
This report- an update to two earlier editions- includes data from surveys of patients, as well as information from primary care physicians about their medical practices and views of health systems in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the U.K.
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Country Information on Health Systems.
Profiles and summaries are provided for health systems in transition, along with links to health-related web sites for each country.
Kaiser Family Foundation. GlobalHealthReporting.org.
This website is designed to help journalists, researchers, policymakers and NGOs efficiently sort through the latest and most accurate information on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. This website provides the latest news, information and data on the three diseases, information by country, glossaries, and reporting resources by journalists.
The Institute for the Study of Civil Society. Factsheets on Health Care.
Factsheets on the health care systems are provided for Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA.
Mutual Information System on Social Protection (MISSOC). European Commission, European Union.
Comparative tables are provided that contain a detailed presentation of the statutory regulations regarding the core areas of social protection including health care.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (July 2009). OECD Health Data 2009: Statistics and Indicator for 30 Countries.
This report provides comparable statistics on health and health systems across 30 OECD countries.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Country Health Profiles.
This website provides basic health information for countries in the OECD.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (December 2009). Health at a Glance 2009.
This fourth edition provides the latest comparable data and trends on different aspects of the performance of health systems in OECD countries.
Tanner M., Cato Institute. (March 2008). The Grass Is Not Always Greener: A Look at National Health Care Systems Around the World.
This policy analysis explores health care systems of different countries and overall trends from these systems.
World Health Organization. Country Profiles.
The WHO provides an overview of the country’s health system and specific health statistics for the 193 WHO member countries.
World Health Organization Regional Office of Europe. (February 2009). Data and Publications.
The WHO's data publications on various health care indicators such as mortality, nutrition, and morbidity for European countries.
World Health Organization. World Health Statistics 2010.
This report provides the most recent health statistics for WHO’s 193 Member states.
World Health Organization. The World Health Report-Primary Health Report Care 2008--Primary Health Care (Now More than Ever).
A report that provides information on the global renewal of primary health care--it addresses the need for more efficient health care delivery systems around the globe.
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Anderson, G.F. and B.K. Frogner. (November/December 2008). Health Spending in OECD Countries: Obtaining Value per Dollar. Health Affairs, 27.6:1718-27.
Danzon, P.M. and M.F. Furukawa. (2006). Prices and availability of biopharmaceuticals: An international comparison. Health Affairs, 25.5:1353-62.
This article looks at the availability, use and prices of biopharmaceuticals in five major European Union markets, Canada, Australia, Japan and Mexico, relative to the United States.
Navarro V. (January 2002). The World Health Report 2000: Can Health Care Systems be Compared Using a Single Measure of Performance? American Journal of Public Health, 92.1:31-34.
This article discusses the conceptual and methodological criticisms of the WHO report.
Schoen, C. et al. (2007). Towards Higher-Performance Health Systems: Adults’ Health Care Experiences in Seven Countries, 2007. Health Affairs, 26.6:w717-34.
This paper looks at the results of the 2007 survey comparing adults’ health care experiences in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Schoen, C., et al. (November 2009). A Survey of Primary Care Physicians in 11 Countries, 2009: Perspectives on Care, Costs, and Experiences. Health Affairs, 28.6: w1171-83.
This paper reports on the findings of a survey of primary care experiences among adults in 11 different developed countries.
Thomson, S. and E. Mossialos. (March 2010). Primary Care and Prescription Drugs: Coverage, Cost-Sharing, and Financial Protection in Six European Countries. The Commonwealth Fund.
This Commonwealth Fund article discusses the costs of health care in six European countries.
White, C., (January 2007). Health care spending growth: How different is the United States from the rest of the OECD? Health Affairs, 26.1:154-161.
This paper compares the long-term (1970-2002) rates of real growth in health spending per capita in the United States and a group of high-income OECD countries.
Willcox, S., et al. (July 2007). Measuring and reducing waiting times: A cross-national comparison of strategies. Health Affairs, 26(4):1078-87.
The authors compare strategies to manage waiting times in Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and Wales in order to provide policy insights into those that are most effective.
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Alliance for Health Reform and Commonwealth Fund. November 2008. Lessons on Coverage from Abroad: How Do the Dutch, German and Swiss Health Care Systems Do It?
This event featured a panel of experts discussing how other countries have dealt with problems facing the U.S. health care system.
Alliance for Health Reform and Commonwealth Fund. April 2008. Private financing and high-level functioning: Some international approaches to health reform.
This briefing looks at the private health care systems of Germany and the Netherlands, where they manage to provide universal coverage, compared to the U.S. Some questions that the speakers address include: “What can we learn about coverage patterns and cost in other systems that might help inform our choices? What are the respective roles of government and the private market in other systems?”
FRONTLINE. Sick Around the World.
This documentary explores the challenges for industrialized countries in stemming the rising cost of health care driven by new medical technologies, making better use of medical evidence in clinical practice, responding to an aging population and improving quality of care.
Hausman, Sandy. (March 2009). Health Care and Reform at Home--Controlling Health Care Costs. The Commonwealth Fund.
This podcast put together by the Commonwealth Fund provides an overview of different ways health care costs can be controlled using international examples and relating them to reform in the United States.
National Public Radio. Health Care for All.
NPR takes an in-depth look at the health care system in France, Germany, Great Britain the Netherlands, and Switzerland. It provides segments on different aspects of health systems, and includes and international comparison of these countries.
Sebelius, Kathleen. (December 2009). Commonwealth Fund International Symposium: Keynote Address. The Commonwealth Fund.
Video coverage from Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Seblius' keynote address at the Commonwealth Fund's international symposium on health care policy.
The Commonwealth Fund. (July 2009). The Commonwealth Fund International Symposium on Health Care Policy.
This video provides coverage of the Commonwealth Fund's international symposium on health care policy.
The Commonwealth Fund. (June 2006). Presentation of the 2006 International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Doctors.
This event presents data from the Commonwealth Fund 2006 International Survey examining key measures of heath care quality including information technology, access to primary care and patient wait times and financial incentives.
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